Masada

Masada (Hebrew:
מצדה from the word Metzuda for fortress -
also spelledMetzada, Masadah, Massada) - a mountain
fortress overlooking the shores of the Dead Sea where Jewish Sicarii insurgents
held out for three years against the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem in
70C.E. and then committed mass mutual murder (amounting to suicide) to avoid capture. The stand of the Sicarii zealots at Masada has been turned
into a symbol of Jewish heroism by modern Zionism.

The only extant ancient source about Masada is the account by Josephus Flavius. Josephus himself had escaped a suicide pact by deception and was
anxious to appease his Roman hosts. He wrote in ambiguous terms
about Masada, its defenders and the entire
Jewish revolt. There is no way to
know how much of this reflects the facts, and what is a function of his own
bias. The basic facts of the Josephus narrative have been verified by the
archeological investigations of Yigal Yadin conducted from 1963 to 1966.

Geography of Masada

Masada is situated on the western shore
of the Dead Sea. Masada made an ideal site for fortification - an elevated
plateau overlooking the Dead Sea and surrounded by sheer cliffs. The
cliffs to the east of Masada are about 1,300 feet (400 m) high, towering over
the depression of the Dead Sea, the lowest point in the world. Those to
the west are about 300 feet (90 m) high. The top of the hill is a flat,
rhomboid-shaped plateau, about 1,800 feet (550 m) by 900 feet (275 m). There was
a fortified wall around the plateau totaling 4,300 feet (1.3 km) long
and 12 feet (3.7 m) thick, with many towers. The fortress included storehouses,
barracks, an armory, at least two large palaces and some additional buildings
identified as small palaces, ritual baths, a synagogue and cisterns that were refilled by
rainwater. Most of these features were described by Josephus Flavius and verified by the
archeological expedition of Yigal Yadin. Three narrow, steep and winding paths led from below up to fortified
gates. The fortress had a commanding view of all paths.

A plan of Masada is shown below, as it was mapped out by the Yadin
expedition, including later Byzantine remains.

History of Masada

Archeological evidence indicates that the site of Masada has been inhabited
since Calcolithic times (c 4000 BCE ). According to Josephus Flavius (Jewish Wars 7:285)
Masada was first fortified by "the High Priest Jonathan" and it was he who named
it Masada. "Jonathan" may have been the brother of Judah Maccabee or he may have
been King Alexander Yanai.

The only mentions of Masada in surviving ancient writings are in Josephus Flavius and
in Pliny's natural history, where it is briefly mentioned as a
"fortress on a rock, not far from lake Asphaltites" in Book 5.
ref

According to Josephus, the Judean king Herod the Great had to flee Jerusalem
with his family in 40 BCE. He fled to Masada and when the revolt had been put
down with Roman help, Herod built fortifications and palaces of Masada from about 37 BCE to 31 BCE,
to provide a virtually impenetrable fort protected on all sides by geography.

In the
year 66, as part of the Jewish revolt against Roman rule, Masada was captured by the
Sicarii faction of the Zealots under the leadership of one Menahem, son of
Yehudah the Galilean, who overcame the Roman garrison there
(Jewish Wars,
Book 2:408,
433). Menahem returned to Jerusalem and was assassinated there. Command
was given to Eleazar Ben Yair Ben Yehudah, evidently the nephew of Menahem. According to Josephus, these zealots were a faction called the Sicarii, who were reputed by their enemies to be political assassins who used
knives (hence the derivation of their name) and who had split from the other
zealots and the rest of the Jewish community. The Sicarii garrison was augmented by Sicarii zealots fleeing Jerusalem
in 70. According to Josephus, these Sicarii fled Jerusalem before it fell, as
they were expelled by other Jews.

Josephus notes that the Sicarii raided
surrounding countryside continually, though he mentions only one town that was
raided by name, Ein Gedi :

It was called Masada. Those that were
called Sicarii had taken possession of it formerly, but at this time they
overran the neighboring countries, aiming only to procure to themselves
necessaries; for the fear they were then in prevented their further ravages.
But when once they were informed that the Roman army lay still, and that the
Jews were divided between sedition and tyranny, they boldly undertook
greater matters; and at the feast of unleavened bread, which the Jews
celebrate in memory of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage, when
they were sent back into the country of their forefathers, they came down by
night, without being discovered by those that could have prevented them, and
overran a certain small city called Engaddi:--in which expedition they
prevented those citizens that could have stopped them, before they could arm
themselves, and fight them. They also dispersed them, and cast them out of
the city. As for such as could not run away, being women and children, they
slew of them above seven hundred. Afterward, when they had carried every
thing out of their houses, and had seized upon all the fruits that were in a
flourishing condition, they brought them into Masada. And indeed these men
laid all the villages that were about the fortress waste, and made the whole
country desolate; while there came to them every day, from all parts, not a
few men as corrupt as themselves. At that time all the other regions of
Judea that had hitherto been at rest were in motion, by means of the
robbers. [emphasis added] (Josephus, Jewish Wars, Book 4, 7:2)

In modern terms, the Masada garrison was
conducting a guerilla war and stirring up the countryside. The above is an
important passage. It explains the importance that the Romans attached to
destroying the Jewish force in Masada, and it shows that the revolt was not
really over at this time, as "all the other regions of Judea that had hitherto
been at rest were in motion." This impression is further reinforced by this
account of the clash between Simon son of Giora (Shimon bar Giora) an ally of
the Sicarii and the Idumeans:

Hereupon the rulers of the Idumeans got together on the
sudden the most warlike part of their people, about twenty-five thousand in
number, and permitted the rest to be a guard to their own country, by reason
of the incursions that were made by the Sicarii that were at Masada.
[emphasis added] (Josephus, Jewish Wars, Book 4, 7:5)

There is no doubt that the
Sicarii were a threat to Roman rule, no matter what the nature of their
predations. In the fall of 72 or 73 the Romans besieged Masada and built a ramp
on the west side and an additional circumvallation wall to prevent the escape of the defenders
and preclude interference with their siege works. The works and camp
indicate an extensive operation, the more impressive because all supplies food
and water for the approximately 10,000 legion soldiers and auxiliary troops had
to be brought from a distance.

960 Sicarii under their leader Eleazar Ben Yair (also called Eleazar Ben
Simon) withstood a siege by the Roman tenth
legion (Fretensis) that was actively pursued for four to eight months. During this time, the Romans built a huge ramp from the
west approach that allowed them to reach up to Masada and break in. One recent
researcher
ref suggests that the in fact most of the
375 foot high (114 m) ramp was a natural bedrock incline, and
that the Romans only needed to build 30 feet above it (9.1m) in order to reach
the Masada walls. This would greatly reduce the amount of construction
needed. If it were true however, it would be difficult to explain why the
Romans would invest Masada with an entire legion, numbering perhaps 10,000 in
all with auxiliaries and slaves, in order to conquer a fortification that was
easy to reach and that was defended by a small force. There were about 960 defenders on Masada
in all, including women and children. According to Josephus, however, the
natural outcropping was 300 cubits below the walls of Masada. A Roman cubit was
about 17.5 inches.
ref
The siege was conducted with the aid of extensive constructions:

... to the top of the hill from the
west; there was a certain eminency of the rock, very broad and very
prominent, but three hundred cubits beneath the highest part of Masada;
it was called the White Promontory. Accordingly, he got upon that part of
the rock, and ordered the army to bring earth; and when they fell to that
work with alacrity, and abundance of them together, the bank was raised, and
became solid for two hundred cubits in height. Yet was not this bank thought
sufficiently high for the use of the engines that were to be set upon it;
but still another elevated work of great stones compacted together was
raised upon that bank; this was fifty cubits, both in breadth and height.
The other machines that were now got ready were like to those that had been
first devised by Vespasian, and afterwards by Titus, for sieges. There was
also a tower made of the height of sixty cubits, and all over plated with
iron... [emphasis added] (Josephus Flavius, Jewish Wars
Book 7, 8:5)

Josephus does not record that the defenders offered any active resistance to
the Roman siege, though they constructed a defense wall against the Roman siege
engine. This defense could not be broken by ramming, which compacted it and made
it stronger. Therefore, as it was mostly of wood, it was set alight. The wind
first blew against the Romans and threatened to destroy their siege engines by
fire, but it then turned again against Masada and fire destroyed the defenses.

According to Josephus Flavius, Eleazar Ben Yair, leader of the
zealots, supposedly gave this speech:

"My loyal followers, long ago we resolved to serve
neither the Romans nor anyone else but only God, who alone is the true and
righteous Lord of men: now the time has come that forces us to prove our
determination by our deeds. At a time like this, we must not disgrace ourselves:
hitherto we have never submitted to slavery, even when it brought no danger with
it: we must not choose slavery now, and with it penalties that will mean the end
of everything if we fall alive into the hands of the Romans. For we were the
first of all to revolt, and shall be the last to break off the struggle. And I
think it is God who has given us this privilege, that we can die nobly and as
free men, unlike others who were unexpectedly defeated. In our case it is
evident that day-break will end our resistance, but we are free to choose an
honorable death with our loved ones. This our enemies cannot prevent, however
earnestly they may pray to take us alive; nor can we defeat them in battle."

"Let our wives die unabused, our children without knowledge of slavery:
after that, let us do each other an ungrudging kindness, preserving our freedom
as a glorious winding-sheet. But first let our possessions and the whole
fortress go up in flames: it will be a bitter blow to the Romans, that I know,
to find our persons beyond their reach and nothing left for them to loot. One
thing only let us spare -- our store of food: it will bear witness when we are dead
to the fact that we perished, not through want but because, as we resolved at
the beginning, we chose death rather than slavery." (Josephus Flavius, Jewish Wars
Book 7, 8:6)

Eleazar ordered that all the 960 Sicarii Zealots were to be killed. That
speech being insufficient to motivate the entire assembly, Josephus relates that
Eleazar made a second speech.

Supposedly, 10 men
killed the others then one of the remaining ten killed the rest, and then he
committed suicide. This was to avoid, insofar as possible, actual suicide, which
is contrary to Jewish law. When the Romans breached the defenses of Masada, they
were amazed to find all the defenders dead. Seven people - two women and five children, survived by hiding in an
underground cavern (not necessarily a cistern as related in some accounts).
The Romans entered Masada on April 16 (apparently that is the equivalent date) of 73 or 74.
(Josephus Flavius, Jewish Wars
Book 7, 9:1)

Now for the Romans, they expected that they should be fought in the
morning, when, accordingly, they put on their armor, and laid bridges of
planks upon their ladders from their banks, to make an assault upon the
fortress, which they did; but saw nobody as an enemy, but a terrible
solitude on every side, with a fire within the place, as well as a perfect
silence. So they were at a loss to guess at what had happened. At length
they made a shout, as if it had been at a blow given by the battering ram,
to try whether they could bring any one out that was within; the women heard
this noise, and came out of their under-ground cavern, and informed the
Romans what had been done, as it was done; and the second of them clearly
described all both what was said and what was done, and this manner of it;
yet did they not easily give their attention to such a desperate
undertaking, and did not believe it could be as they said; they also
attempted to put the fire out, and quickly cutting themselves a way through
it, they came within the palace, and so met with the multitude of the slain,
but could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to their
enemies. Nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their
resolution, and the immovable contempt of death which so great a number of
them had shown, when they went through with such an action as that was.
(Josephus Flavius, Jewish Wars
Book 7, 9:2)

The story of Masada is not mentioned in the Talmud. The Talmud does discuss the Roman revolt,
but it is generally unsympathetic to the revolts and in particular to the
Sicarii.

Many of the buildings in Masada were damaged in earthquakes. In the fifth and
sixth centuries it was settled by Byzantine monks who built a small church with
a beautiful mosaic floor.

Archeological Excavations of Masada

The site of Masada was identified in 1838 by the American explorers Robinson
and Smith. They viewed the rock of Masada, called El-Sabba by the Arabs, through
a telescope from Ein Gedi. Masada was visited in 1842 by the American missionary
S. W. Wolcott and a painter named Tipping, and subsequently by the American
Naval expedition of 1848. In 1850, F. de Soulcy drew the first plan of Masada.
As part of the Palestine survey, C. Warren recorded in 1867 that he had climbed
Masada from the East, along what he believed to be the snake path, and C.R.
Conder drew fairly accurate plans of Masada in 1875.

The Roman camps around Masada were studied in detail in 1909 by A.V.
Domaszewski and R. E. Bruennow. Numerous others followed. Israelis initiated
several studies of Masada before it was excavated by Yadin. S. Guttman and A.
Alon traced the correct route of the snake path and studied the water system in
1953. Two large scale surveys were conducted. The first in 1955 was headed by M.
Avi-Yonah and N. Avidad, and the second was headed by Y. Aharoni. From 1963 to
1965 Masada
was excavated by a team under Yigael Yadin. Yadin's was the major archeological
study of Masada. It provided a wealth of
information about Jewish customs of the Zealot period, the earlier and later
inhabitants and the history and beliefs of
the
Sicarii.

Masada: North view

Mosaic floor in a ritual bath
(Mikva) in Masada

Masada as a Symbol in Zionist Ideology

The story of Masada was virtually forgotten in Jewish tradition until modern
times. Few Jews read Josephus Flavius, and the rabbinical tradition was opposed to
revolt, which had cost so many lives. In modern times, Masada had gotten
favorable mention in the writings of Berdichevski, and it was taken up as a
symbol by the extreme right wing ideologue Aba Ahimeir. In 1923, a translation of Josephus' Jewish
Wars was published. The story of Masada now began to catch the imagination of
Hebrew writers. Beginning in 1923, part of Yitzhak Lamdan's Epic Poem "Masada"
were published, the whole being published in 1927. Masada of the poem was not,
at that time, meant literally to refer to the epic of resistance and suicide.
Masada was rather viewed as a last refuge - a fort that would protect the Jewish
people from the gathering storm of European persecution. Masada was an allegory
for the Jewish settlement in Palestine.

Lamdan wrote: "Open your gate Massada, and I, the refugee, shall enter!" and
concluded: "Masada shall not fall again" (Sheynit Masada lo tipul - שנית
מסדה לא תיפול ). The latter line became a slogan not only of the the
extreme right, but of all the youth movements. In the 30s, Masada became a
favorite hiking destination for youth movements, because of the challenge of the
climb, and because some reconstruction work had made the hike a bit easier.

With the coming of World War II however, Masada began to have a new
symbolism. In mandatory Palestine, British authorities began to contemplate
abandoning Palestine to the Nazis. Zionist leaders of the
Yishuv began to
contemplate a 'heroic last stand.' (Shapira, 1992, p 313). The very first book
of the Am Oved publishing house, was an anthology of stories of Jewish heroism,
which, as editor Berl Katznelson noted, had always been hopeless
heroism, since the end of the Second Temple. Yisrael Galili used this book as a
device for evoking heroism. He called the theme, "Masada throughout the
generations." Organized hikes to the peak of Masada were presently
institutionalized and became the object of projects involving all the youth
movements, at the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942. The story of Masada was
said to be a major inspiration for the ghetto uprisings, especially the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The coincidence that both the suicide of Masada and the last battle of the Warsaw Ghetto took place around Passover was
noted as well.

IDF Oath of Allegiance on Masada

David Ben-Gurion did not like the Masada story which
did not end in victory, but others did, and the site, further excavated in the
50s, became the destination of youth movement pilgrimages and also of the
swearing-in of new newly trained IDF soldiers.

Masada: Ostrakhon inscribed "Ben
Yair "

In two seasons, Yigal Yadin excavated Masada between 1963 and 1965. The
excavations showed that the physical description of Masada provided by
Josephus Flavius was very close to the actual geography and architecture. They could not verify every detail of the Josephus story
of course, nor could they conclusively contradict it. Yadin, anxious to
obtain government backing for archeological projects, did not contradict
some of the more florid government press releases and booklets, though his
own books and publications were usually more conservative in interpreting
the finds and their meaning. Here indeed, Yadin had found ritual baths,
storehouses with signs of burning, Roman camps, human remains, and what might be
the Ostrakha used to draw lots for the final suicide.

Such a wealth of findings in such detail must be considered fair corroboration of an ancient historical account.
Nothing that Yadin found directly contradicted the original story of Josephus Flavius
except that the warehouses appeared to have been completely burnt. But the date
at which the contents were burnt is not known. There no possibility of
corroborating or refuting every detail in Josephus, nor is the account of
Josephus, as we have seen, very detailed.

Problems and Gaps in the Masada Story

Josephus's story is sparing and probably biased and incorrect in at least
some details, though the archeological findings of the Yadin expedition bore out
major features of the story. There was a fort, there were defenders. Human
remains were found of a few dozen individuals, but not of the over 900 persons.
Ostrakha (bits of potsherds) inscribed with names were found in one location,
which Yadin believed were those used in drawing the lots. They included the name
of Ben Yair, possibly Eleazar Ben Yair. But there 11 of them rather than ten.
Numbers of other ostrakha were found as well, and these may have been used for
many purposes. Storehouses of food were found. At least some of these had been burnt, though
not necessarily by defenders. The speech of Eleazar Ben-Yair stated that the
food would be spared.

The account of Josephus Flavius has the Romans reach the wall of Masada by the
evening of April 15, but they do not enter Masada, according to Josephus, until
April 16. Shaye Cohen suggests that this is a very strange way of proceeding,
since it gives the defenders time to recover and prepare further defenses before
the final attack. He suggests that Josephus invented the delay is give Eleazar
ben Yair a chance to give his speeches and to have the dramatic suicide pact.
Actually, Cohen believes, there was no suicide pact and the defenders may have
fought the Romans piecemeal or surrendered.ref Since we have have no information on this point
however, it is equally possible to claim that the Romans wanted to enter in
daylight, when there would be less chance for ambush.

There is no account in Josephus Flavius of any action by the besieged defenders against the
besieging
Romans or any attempt to escape before the investment or resistance during the
investment. If Flavius Silva went to the expense and trouble of building a
four mile circumvallation wall with towers and guardposts to prevent escape of
the defenders, it is reasonable to suppose that defenders had escaped or
attempted to escape, but no such attempts are recorded. This is in marked contrast to Josephus' other accounts of
sieges, where each sally is detailed. It is hard to believe there was no resistance. If the
defenders had not repulsed Roman attacks, surely the Romans would not have found
it necessary to build either the wall nor the ramp. Flaming oil, rocks and
missiles could have been used the besiegers, as well as escape sallies.

The two women who survived in the cave are questionable features of the
story. It is unlikely that nobody would have missed them, especially as Josephus
relates that one of them was a kinswoman of Eleazar.

The speeches of Eleazar Ben Yair, like all speeches in ancient histories, are
almost certainly a fabrication. There were no means of recording the speech. If
the women were hiding in a cistern, it is unlikely that they heard it in full or
remembered it. Even if they did, it is unlikely that the Roman soldiers who
heard the speech from them wrote down or remembered every word. However, neither
speech is like, as some allege, like the speech that Josephus Flavius himself gave at Jotapata,
for the latter was an injunction against suicide.
(Josephus
Flavius, Jewish Wars, Book 3, 8:5)
The style is necessarily the same, however, because there is no doubt that the
speeches, like nearly all such speeches in ancient historical documents, were
the authors' idea of what sort of things ought to have been said or could be
said on such occasions.

We cannot be at all certain that Josephus Flavius'
account of Masada is unbiased, or that he gives a true rendition of the
importance of the fortress or the activities and character of the defenders,
whom he names as Sicarii. Sicarius means "dagger" in Latin, and the term was
applied by the Romans generically to various robber bands. This derogatory term was likely
the ancient equivalent of "terrorist," which was either used as an accurate
description or as an epithet. In Josephus' history and subsequent Jewish
tradition, the "Sicarii," supposedly a faction of the Zealots so named by
Josephus became the villains of the piece, responsible for all manner of
irresponsible mayhem, brigandage and senseless murders. They did not survive
however, to give an account of themselves and their motives.

The band on Masada very likely did not
call themselves Sicarii.. That was the epithet bestowed upon them by Josephus.
Josephus, as related in Book 3 of the Jewish Wars, shamelessly betrayed the
trust put in him as commander of Jotapata. First he thought to escape from the
besieged town by lying to the other defenders and saying he was going to seek
help. Then, to discourage further defense when it was hopeless, and to encourage
surrender to the Romans he pleaded with them in a speech that suicide is against
Jewish law:

Now self-murder is a crime most remote from the common nature of all
animals, and an instance of impiety against God our Creator; nor indeed is
there any animal that dies by its own contrivance, or by its own means, for
the desire of life is a law engraven in them all... Accordingly, our laws
determine that the bodies of such as kill themselves should be exposed till
the sun be set, without burial, although at the same time it be allowed by
them to be lawful to bury our enemies [sooner]. (Josephus
Flavius, Jewish Wars, Book 3 8:5)

When that did not convince them, he
lied to to them again, and entered into a false mutual suicide pact in which
they drew lots, as in Masada, as to who would kill whom. By "chance" or
pre-arrangement, Josephus drew the last lot according to his story and then
reneged on the plot and escaped along with another. (Josephus
Flavius, Jewish Wars, Book 3 8:7)

By his own account, he had risked his life in this pact, and
had no intention of killing himself if he could help it. The pact and its
outcome are his story and we have only his word for the events. The only certain
fact is that Josephus emerged alive.

Josephus was always outspoken about the evils of the Sicarii according to his
view of the matter. Moreover, the defenders of Masada had faithfully carried out
a suicide pact of a type which he himself, by his own admission, had betrayed.
It could scarcely be expected to give an account of the defenders of
Masada that was complimentary. Here is what he said of
Sicarii in another
passage:

... for then it was that the Sicarii got together against those that
were willing to submit to the Romans, and treated them in all respects
as if they had been their enemies, both by plundering them of what they had,
by driving away their cattle, and by setting fire to their houses; for they
said that they differed not at all from foreigners, by betraying, in so
cowardly a manner, that freedom which Jews thought worthy to be contended
for to the utmost, and by owning that they preferred slavery under the
Romans before such a contention. Now this was in reality no better than a
pretense and a cloak for the barbarity which was made use of by them, and to
color over their own avarice, which they afterwards made evident by their
own actions; for those that were partners with them in their rebellion
joined also with them in the war against the Romans, and went further
lengths with them in their impudent undertakings against them; and when they
were again convicted of dissembling in such their pretenses, they still more
abused those that justly reproached them for their wickedness. And indeed
that was a time most fertile in all manner of wicked practices, insomuch
that no kind of evil deeds were then left undone; nor could any one so much
as devise any bad thing that was new, so deeply were they all infected, and
strove with one another in their single capacity, and in their communities,
who should run the greatest lengths in impiety towards God, and in unjust
actions towards their neighbors; the men of power oppressing the multitude,
and the multitude earnestly laboring to destroy the men of power.
(Josephus Flavius, Jewish Wars
Book 7, 8:1)

The "wickedness" of the Sicariitherefore consisted in combating those who would submit to the Romans. Of
course, the Sicarii treated them "as if they were their enemies" because that is
what they were. This,
claims Josephus, was only a pretense for their avarice. But it could not have
been avarice that caused these supposedly wicked robbers to risk their lives again and again and
end them in a suicide pact, rather than giving in to the Romans as Josephus had
done.

Distortions of the Masada Story

To the ancient story of Josephus Flavius and the inferences that could
legitimately be drawn from the archeological remains, popular imagination and occasionally
Israeli government press releases, as well as a very popular movie, added
various "improvements." The
Sicarii came to be
pictured as "freedom fighters," the public became convinced that the historical
account detailed attacks of the Sicarii on the Romans, that the actual siege lasted as
long as three years, and that there were many fewer defenders. The Masada story
as embroidered and enlarged in the national mythology almost to the same extent
that the battle of Bunker Hill was enlarged in American mythology, or the stand
of Joan of Arc in France. Eventually
however, the popularity of the youth movements declined, new sites were found
for the IDF swearing in ceremonies after the
Six day war,
and Israelis had new, actual accounts of glory that could take the place of the
Masada suicide pact in the national mythology of heroism.

Masada Myth Myth

Several Israeli new historians, following Nachman Ben Yehuda,
took it upon themselves to "debunk" the Masada story as it was perceived in the
popular memory. In doing so, they created a myth of a Masada Myth above and
beyond the inevitable actual distortions of the Masada story by Yadin or the
Israeli government, the makers of movies and the public imagination.

Every nation has bits of history associated with its foundation
- archetypical "heroic" occurrences such as the martyrdom of Joan of Arc, the
victory of Crecy, the victory of Charles the Hammer (Charles Martel) over the
Muslims in the Battle of Tours, the stand of the American patriots at Bunker
Hill, Montgomery stopping Rommel at Alamein. All of these national events are
based on actual history, but they are greatly distorted in retelling.
Inevitably, in retelling these stories, routes are converted to victories, and
little victories to big ones. Historians may assert that the battle of Tours
represented the outermost possible effort of the stretched Arab armies, or that
likewise Rommel had simply outrun his supplies at Alamein, or that the
Palestinians were actually defeated rather badly at Qarameh, but in the national
perception all these battles are great victories won by extraordinary bravery
and courage. None of these events are "myths" - they are real events seen
incorrectly or in a biased way through the distorting influence of culture and
time, and the inevitable problems of historical point of view. A myth is usually
thought of as a fictional (and fantastic) story that is part of a mythological
system, such as myths about ancient deities, fairies and leprechauns.

But Ben Yehuda and his followers redefine a myth, in order to be
able to attach the label of "myth" to the Masada story. Ben Yehuda writes, "It
seems that the invocation of the word myth implies something that is not quite
true." (Ben Yehuda, 1995 p. 8). That is a peculiar way of asserting a
definition, and it is offered without any proof. It "seems" to whom? This definition allows Ben Yehuda to label just
about any bit of history as it is related anywhere as "myth," because
as Harry Truman remarked,

"No two
historians ever agree on what happened, and the damn thing is they both
think they're telling the truth."

By that criterion, everything that any people believe to be part
of their history can be shown to be a "myth." A part of Ben-Yehuda's method was to ask
many Israelis to retell the history of Masada from memory, and to note the
numerous errors that crept into their accounts. They mentioned too few
defenders, they believed the siege lasted three years and not several months,
they got the number of survivors wrong, they believed the Sicarii had carried
out many heroic exploits against the Romans. thought none of these were
mentioned in detail by Josephus. This "experiment" forms a large point of
the account in Ben Yehuda's 1995 book, thought it is not mentioned at all in a
later article. refref

However, Ben-Yehuda did not have a control experiment. Had he
asked Israelis to retell any other event in Jewish history, or had he asked, for
example, British people to recount the struggle of Boudicea against the Romans,
or had he asked French people to tell the story of Vercingetorix, surely the
story would have been somewhat different from the versions that are available in
the most veridical sources. Yet there is no doubt that all these events occurred
and are not myths. No government and no persons are charged by anyone with bad
historiography or with deliberately creating a myth. The poetic license of the
writers of historical novels and the producers of movies is understood and taken
into account, and the right of governments to "improve" history a bit is taken
for granted. Israel does not get any such break at the hands of Ben Yehuda and
his followers.

Ben Yehuda seems to create his own myth. He tells us that according to
Josephus Flavius there were no battles between the Romans and the Sicarii (Ben
Yehuda, 1995 p. 9). This is not literally true. Josephus makes no
statement about how many battles there were. He doesn't mention any battles,
which is peculiar. But Josephus Flavius does mention, as we noted, that the activities of
the
Sicarii were
rekindling the revolt in Judea. This contradicts the impression given by Ben Yehuda that the
Sicarii were only
engaged in assassinations and killing of innocent women and children, unless we
adopt the view that the entire interest of the Jews in the revolt was robbery
and assassination.

Masada Complex

Anti-Zionists and critics of Israel have insisted that Israelis have
developed a "Masada complex" - that is, a feeling of being walled up inside a
fortress with imminent doom approaching and no way out. The taunt is meant as a
claim that Israeli security fears are not realistic. Given the fact that several
Palestinian organizations, as well as the government of Iran, are publicly
committed to the destruction of Israel, and take steps to implement it, there
appear to be good grounds for Israeli security fears.

'H
- ('het) a guttural sound made deep in the throat. To Western ears it may
sound like the "ch" in loch. In Arabic there are several letters that
have similar sounds. Examples: 'hanukah, 'hamas, 'haredi. Formerly, this sound
was often represented by ch, especially in German transliterations of
Hebrew. Thus, 'hanukah is often rendered as Chanuka for example.

ch
- (chaf) a sound like "ch" in loch or the Russian Kh
as in Khruschev or German Ach, made by putting the tongue against
the roof of the mouth. In Hebrew, a chaf can never occur at the beginning of a
word. At the beginning of a word, it has a dot in it and is pronounced "Kaf."

u
- usually between oo as in spoon and u as in put.

a-
sounded like a in arm

ah-
used to represent an a sound made by the letter hey at the end of a word.
It is the same sound as a. Haganah and Hagana are alternative acceptable
transliterations.

'a-notation
used for Hebrew and Arabic
ayin, a guttural ah sound.

o
- close to the French o as in homme.

th
- (taf without a dot) - Th was formerly used to transliterate the Hebrew
taf sound for taf without a dot. However in modern Hebrew there is no
detectable difference in standard pronunciation of taf with or without a dot,
and therefore Histadruth and Histadrut, Rehovoth and Rehovot are all acceptable.

q-
(quf) - In transliteration of Hebrew and Arabic, it is best to
consistently use the letter q for the quf, to avoid confusion with similar
sounding words that might be spelled with a kaf, which should be transliterated
as K. Thus, Hatiqva is preferable to Hatikva for example.